Edina 8th graders selected as finalists to send science experiment to space

Three students from South View Middle School in Edina could have their ideas blasted into space.

The students, Katie Lesourd, Melissa Castellanos and Najma Mukhtar, created a science experiment that could be performed by astronauts during an actual NASA space mission. The experiment will attempt to grow meat in space.

“We can grow plants in space and stuff, but it’s really hard to bring live animals to space and sending meat is really expensive, so we decided if we can grow our own meat in space using cultured meat,” Lesourd said.

The girls’ design made it to the top three experiments out of nearly 200 submissions in the district as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.

The winning experiment will be selected next month and will be tested by astronauts on a flight to the International Space Station next summer.